Rational use and conservation of living resources must be the active concern of all of us, rich and poor alike, if the world is to continue to develop in any reasonable degree of harmony with Nature. Accordingly it is necessary to recognize that industrial—and even some degree of demographic—development is not necessarily incompatible with environmental protection, and indeed that, in the world to come, conservation and development will have to be widely interlinked.

Cognizant of this and of the fundamental need to protect and perpetuate living, renewable resources in the face of ever-mounting and demanding human populations, and stressing the imperative of preserving a holistic approach to these problems of Man's and Nature's ‘only one Earth’, IUCN, with the support of UNEP and WWF, and the endorsement of some other bodies, launched, early in 1980, after several laborious redraftings, a ‘World Conservation Strategy’, in the manner described in the last part of this paper. It sets a policy for all to follow, taking mankind well away from the merely reactionist basis of conservation.

A new thrust will be needed if the environment of Man and Nature throughout the world is to be preserved for posterity in anything like its present form. The required change in attitude and concomitant action should concern all peoples, involve most resources, and underlie many future developments—which last could well be in line with environmental conservation. It is believed that much benefit could accrue in this worthy direction through global exhortation of The Biosphere as mankind's planetary life-support system, which needs widespread understanding to allay increasing threats due basically to burgeoning human populations and the demands which they make on the limited resources of our planet.

The Biosphere may be defined as the Earth's peripheral envelope, together with the oceans and the atmosphere as far up as living things exist in it naturally, and thus ranges from the deepest layers of soils and ocean floors upwards to the highest levels of the stratosphere in which any form of life persists. This includes Man, with his unique intelligence and cognate capabilities that have enabled him to evolve latterly as the world's undisputed pandominant, change the surface of the Earth very considerably, and even alter the composition and content of The Biosphere quite appreciably.

Since Man's earliest dominion of the Earth, he has depended on the land and its plants for his survival, and he has often altered the forest and field to enhance his success. He has removed some species, planted others, and encouraged growth of still others, both intentionally and inadvertently, to the extent that few areas of the Earth still remain covered by large expanses of totally undisturbed plant communities.

Among the inadvertent changes that have been wrought by Man in natural systems are those resulting from the input of the pollutants of technology: sulphur dioxide, herbicides, photochemical pollutants, pesticides, radiation, and much more. The presence of each provides a selective force favouring some genotypes, discouraging others, and eliminating species that lack sufficient genetic diversity to survive. Thus the occurrence and distribution of plants is influenced, and community composition is changed—usually for the worse. Where large numbers of species are killed and the land is laid bare to erosion, the impact is highly undesirable. In other instances, tolerant genotypes existed of a sufficiency of species to allow them to reproduce and fill vacated niches. In the occasional instance where only a few plant species are damaged, the character of the change will depend on the nature of the tolerant individuals and species. A shift from forest to more tolerant grasses and forbs is common.

Long-term limits to growth in energy-use will be imposed not by inability to expand supply but by the rising environmental and social costs of doing so. These costs will therefore be central issues in choosing long-term energy options. Energy from nuclear fusion, like solar energy, is not one technology but many. Some of the fusion possibilities seem likely to have very attractive environmental characteristics; others may be little better in these regards than nuclear fission.

Issues in fusion-reactor design that are crucial from the environmental standpoint include: size of tritium inventory and pathways for its release; nature and configuration of materials that are subject to neutron activation; forms and quantities of the stored energy that are internal to the reactor, and the nature of potential links between fusion technology and nuclear weaponry.

About 4,000 years ago the first Eskimo tribes reached Northern Greenland after a migration taking some thousands of years from Asia via the Bering Strait, then along the North American coastal areas and over the Canadian Arctic archipelago. They settled primarily in the northernmost part of Greenland, where archaeological finds are the basis of our knowledge of their life. Subsequent waves of immigration resulted in settlements to the south, along Greenland's east and west coasts (Fig. 1).

Photochemical smog in the densely-populated coastal region of Israel often results in temporary atmospheric ozone concentrations in excess of 0.1 ppm. In view of the rapid growth in urban—industrial development, energy consumption, and motorized traffic, these concentrations are increasing from year to year and the same is presumably true for other Mediterranean countries suffering similar conditions.

Moreover, as in California, these photochemical air pollutants can be transported inland under suitable meteorological conditions and may lead to ozone concentrations well above 0.05 ppm even in remote mountain regions with forested slopes. This is the case in the Shaar Hagai canyon leading to Jerusalem, where more than 0.2 ppm oxidant concentrations have been measured and where widespread decline and mortality of Pinus hale-pensis is occuring, accompanied by severe infestation by Matsucoccus josephi scales and Scolytidae beetles. Earlier stages of this decline can also be observed in other planted pine forests in Israel.